Sidenotes
by artparcoeur
Summary: Taichi and Sora in the form of random vignettes, one-shots, and drabbles.
1. Comfort Food

**Author's Note: **Hello, Taiora community! This is my first Taichi/Sora fan fiction, and I'm looking forward to write more of them. I've always liked them as a couple but I haven't toyed much about their characters 'til recently. I got this idea from the Mimato story I'm working on (it has Taiora in it), and boy, it sure was fun. :-))

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**Sidenotes  
**_Comfort Food_

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He placed two bento boxes on top of the table, the other one for the sobbing ginger. _Thank God_, they were eating lunch at the school patio, or else onlookers would reckon he was responsible for a sad Sora. He did have a reputation among their classmates that he pissed her off the most – which is entirely true; even more so than his best friend, her now ex-boyfriend, Yamato.

She had her head down, hands clasped beneath the table, her shoulders heaving up and down. She kept asking a lot of _'why's'_, followed by words he really couldn't decipher from her hiccuping.

Like most of the time, he had no words; otherwise he'd be saying something that will unconsciously make her feel worse. He placed a hand on her shoulder, patting her, trying to get her to eat. What probably Taichi didn't understand was – why's she the one crying, when she was the one who broke up with his golden-haired, rock star-of-a-friend.

Speaking of the devil, Yamato still owed him a very reasonable explanation as to why _all of this_ had to happen, especially when it all came too suddenly. He only found out recently that his two best friends were already _dunzo_ since yesterday. _Or so they say._ But even so, all of the sacrifices Taichi made were already seemingly in vain – and _God,_ he still wasn't sure if he had moved on but he definitely had improvement since then, despite them getting together three years ago.

He can't believe he'd say it, but he wished this was just one of the fake, non-serious break-ups that couples do, and eventually get back together, seven days in time. Taichi did not like her crying, even if sometimes he was the reason. He unfolded the napkin of his bento, and started to eat.

But Sora had something else in her mind. Taichi had just aggravated the whole situation she was in for carelessly inviting Yamato with them earlier in class. Fortunately, Yamato still had the decency to the decline Taichi's offer, else she might have just stormed off. She knew her brunet friend did not mean to make her feel this way, but sometimes he was just impossible – just as impossible as he was for criticizing the length of her hair or her taste in food.

"I can't believe it.. how can he act as if nothing happened, still smiling and all?!" croaked Sora, as she started to remember how she and Yamato now became former lovers. And here was Taichi beside her, unaware that it was because of him that she and Yamato started to fall out. Only recently had it seemed utterly pointless to be in a very _exhausting_ relationship.

"Hmm," was all that Taichi managed to say, and it infuriated her. _Oh_, how she wished Mimi was with her now.

"Taichi-kun, you still haven't changed! Here I am at my lowest, and all you can say is –"

"Sora-chan," he interrupted her venting as he forced a roll of sushi to her mouth with his chopsticks. She muffled a few inaudible curses at Taichi, then started to compliment Mrs. Yagami's cooking. And when Sora seemed to have forgotten what she was about to say, she indulged herself more with the food. He smiled in satisfaction as she seemed to have finally enjoyed his company.


	2. Transition

**Author's Note: **Thank you everyone, for such kind words! This collection is non-linear; they are stories that stand on their own. I hope you enjoy them as much as the first one! For this one, I got the inspiration from Taylor Swift's song, **_"You are in Love"_**. I think this perfectly fits Sora, especially when she's at that stage of realizing her feelings. I'll always feel strongly for Taichi as the best person that could have loved her, but that is entirely my opinion. Hehe. Enjoy!

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**Sidenotes  
**_Transition_

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Their friendship was always at time's generous side; just enough of years and shared experiences to gain trust and affection. They ate where they usually ate after school; talked, ranted of some inferior players' incompetence and praised the strengths of their superiors. He'd break in some jokes, followed by her varying demure-to-loud laughter. But nowadays the silence they shared together had only just grown and lengthened; words came shortened, unspoken.

The quietude sent a gently earthquake in her stomach. Sora watched him mindlessly pick up fry per fry, brashly dipping it on his personally concocted mayo-and-tomato sauce. He then slurps loudly from his soda, brushes his palm across his lips to clean up the mess. If she witnessed this weeks ago, she'd roll her eyes, secretly disagreeing of his gestures. Taichi was always brash, careless, reckless; messy, bushy-haired, tanned skin. They had shared several bottles of water, share each other's food that they deemed novelty, brushed each other with sweaty arms and dirty hands. She got him all right from his monsters to his passions, but now all she could notice was his unusually attractive smile despite the laundry list of things Taichi did which always set her off to _ratatatata_. Now, his natural and little gentlemanly gestures do not go unnoticed and unappreciated.

He tells her they should go home. So they stand up from their seats, head for the exit, then walk side by side. She was never one to wear rose-tinted glasses – but it was as if she was seeing him for the first time. It was not the same. She reckoned that perhaps these illusions just had something to do with her eyes being naturally red.

Taichi, however, tried to keep things normal as the estranged feeling had been lingering for some days now. He steals a glance to his right, somehow liking how she stood amidst the neon-lit night. There were several occasions in which she reminded him of _fire_ – from ruby red eyes, her ginger hair, her yellow-warm skin, to her random outbursts of anger and affection.

In these recent nights spent walking together, she was strangely livelier – better even, as she seemed to refrain throwing her _unjust _tantrums at him. Tonight, she was truly set aflame.

There was nothing much that went on with Sora, as far as he knew her the past eight-or-nine years. Sora was his childhood friend; best friend; teacher; comrade; his right-hand. She's always ready to take him out of some sort of mischief he was in to; and stuck with him faithfully despite his clumsiness. Though there were times he resented her being all motherly to him, he knew she only cared.

Taichi could enlist the many things she is to him, but times were changing, and so were they. And the more they grew, the more he misunderstood her. At times he had to let her know every now and then, that he was trying, but even so, she never left his side, despite the walking time bomb she was. Taichi sighed, put his hands beneath the pocket of his shorts; confused why he was spending an unusual amount of time talking in his head. After all, he was never an _overthinker._

He glanced at her again, marveling how pretty she looked despite mud and sweat on her face. She looked at him, discovering that they shared the same wonder through his glassy russet eyes.

"Taichi, your face is all dirty,"

He smirked. "Speak for yourself, Sora."

Maybe time will let them know what this all meant.


	3. Glitches

**Author's Note: **Took this little drabble's inspiration from Kimi ni Todoke's Kazehaya Shouta. Knowing how friendly Kazehaya is, there was this gag/thing where everyone calls him _"Everyone's Kazehaya-kun"_ (literally meant that everyone owned him and that no girl will claim him as hers). Taichi suits this well, in my opinion – and how Sora will react to it will be utterly different from Sawako.

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**Sidenotes  
**_Glitches_

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She never had a problem with Taichi being class representative, nor had she noticed he talked (and played, and flirted) with a lot of girls until now. The funny feeling she felt as she watched him do a cheesy magic card trick with the female class representative – Kiko-chan – was something terribly foreign. She got worked up earlier when the two went out of the classroom together, but found relief when they returned with their English workbooks.

But no longer was Taichi doing class representative obligations, and it ticked her off that he didn't even glance at her. Her eyes pierced through the back of his head, hoping he'd feel the non-existent hole she's burning through.

But like always, he didn't, and he chuckled instead, loud enough for everyone to hear. In a few, he was crowded by the others, boys and girls alike, insisting him to show one of his few tricks. She let out a loud, obvious grunt, rolled her eyes in disgust as the brunet successfully made them ogle in amusement. She had seen all those tricks beforehand, and none of them were really impressive - except for the flower stunt he pulled off for her at the family shop two weeks ago.

Her train of thought was cut off as Yamato poked her by the shoulder, asked her if she had a sore throat since she grunted so loud. With a grim face, her eyes signaled to Taichi and his lady friend. The blond no longer pressed on the matter, returned to his seat with a book on hand. She swore she heard him call the brunet an 'idiot'.

Sora looked back, cannot help but keep her eyes on them. They seemed to be talking in a hush, as if there was a secret; and anyone else was unwelcomed. Her mouth gaped, didn't like that this girl was dangerously rubbing elbows with_ her_ boyfriend. _The nerve_, she even treated this girl as her own friend, so why wasn't she respecting personal boundaries? Doesn't everybody know by now that she's the girlfriend, and that they're going to have lunch later, and they're going to walk home together, and eat at her place with dear oka-san's special hot plate? Or Taichi, in some stupid, insensitive way, had grandly misinformed people – specifically his legion of fanboys and fangirls?

Her list kept going on and on, and this might just be their first fight (as a couple, because they fought quite a few times when they were just friends, too).

He only went back to his seat when their Math-_sensei_ entered the room. She couldn't see him since she sat at the front, but she felt spared from the sight of his annoyingly happy face. Still, she couldn't help that this so-called boyfriend of hers could be found with anyone, anywhere but beside her;

though it wasn't because he didn't want to.

He did want to, in fact. But he knew her more than anyone, knew her little quirks and most of them were beyond his understanding. To say that he didn't understand girls at all felt like an insult to him – because apart from his thirteen-year-old self, he was very well-liked by the girls, even more than his own rockstar-best friend. Even Mimi can vouch for that.

He tried to talk to her when Math class had just finished, but once again was greeted with a cold shoulder. _This_, this was what he could not understand.

So, it wasn't because he was terrible with women – it's just that she's just really too _special _(putting it to another, more heavy and specific word would only entail a fight) – at least that's what Taichi had been thinking_._ At times he'd put on an affectionate display and the next thing he'll know is that she's running away from his arms; the next thing is she will say something about him and a female classmate and how 'good' they look together, passive-aggressively.

It was like a cat-and-mouse chase; only, this certain mouse was bipolar on wanting to get caught or not, he thought.

"Sora."

"Hmp."

"Come on."

Sora sheepishly looked away from the hand he offered, still making a big deal out of holding hands, but he will insist and she will eventually take his hand. And whatever it was that bothered her would completely disappear; and once again Taichi'd become a happy man relieved from petty relationship problems he couldn't foresee.

And as they walked down the hall, both of them wondered how long it would take to get used to this.


	4. Red

**Author's Note: **So I wrote this out of the blue, while I was on SoundCloud, I discovered an indie song by B.P. Valenzuela, entitled, _"Instead"._ It automatically felt like a Sora song. I hope you guys enjoy this one. It's a bit dramatic, but the perspective here is one-sided.

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**Sidenotes  
**_Red_

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_._

"_You look nice,"_ he said, grinning. Tucking a lock of ginger behind her ear to feign her modesty, she wondered if he really took notice of her freshly groomed hair, her cologne, and her subtle make up; or if he just said it out of courtesy.

Her bliss fell short when he added, _"but we're only going to Yamato's concert, you know."_

Her lips formed a pout, eyes squinting at his direction. There was just really no way for her to make him notice the little things, and it_ almost always_ infuriated her. _"Idiot."_ Despite his _indirect_ offenses, the red on her cheeks grew vibrant.

She closed the door behind her, and watched her sneakers walk beside his. She couldn't see much of it due to the darkness of the night, but she wondered if they always walked this fast, and if they'll ever go slow and hold hands.

Like always, the closest they'll ever come to being intimate is whenever she playfully punches his shoulder right after a joke. She couldn't wait for him to break one.

But the remainder of the night he was unusually quiet even when they reached the venue. Silence was never really an issue between them – they've shared several and longer moments of not speaking to each other while being together - but somehow, she just felt more anxious with this one. Maybe it's because they haven't eaten dinner yet. _Or maybe he's tired of earlier,_ reckoned Sora. Taichi did tell her he had a rough football practice after all. She wasn't one to pry, and she didn't want to move around too much and ruin the _'hard-work'_ she just did to her eyes. Speaking would only ruin wonderful shade of her lips, too. She convinced herself with this, and her mind seemed to have calmed a bit. Her heart, though, was still racing the marathon.

They sat on the second row from the stage, where their seats were rightfully reserved. Nothing else filled her ears, none of Taichi's voice – just the loud noise that came from the crowd, and the music that came from her friend's performance.

And it was still quiet. So quiet that her mind was wandering somewhere else when a love song broke in. How long, she asked herself, will she put up with this game? _Is it even a game?_ Because it was starting to feel like she was the only one playing. The only one_ feeling._ She didn't ask for a feeling to grow something so much more.

_Like a seed to a garden._ She needed him – she needed to take care of him, to pamper him, to give him that _something_ unconditional. So the more she lingered around her thoughts, she was realizing there was no reason for him to yearn for her. With or without her, he'd still be the same. He didn't need her.

The song came to an end, and as Yamato thanked the crowd over the microphone, she sighed, disappointed how the night came too short. Nothing happened.

"_They're good aren't they?"_ she heard Taichi say. Ears like radars, she turned to her left, and saw that he was talking to someone else – some random male fan of Yamato's. She tilted her head to see Taichi's face. The expression on his face looked more homely and livelier than he ever was the whole night. He was laughing, too, even joked that he almost went bisexual for the blond. Terrible taste of a joke, she would have told him, but there were more important things she minded of – like the fact that he could not even sense the hole she was burning through his head.

Clutching her arms draped with a red cardigan, her nails dug deep against her skin; couldn't even feel the pain. _Taichi_ is – as she always put it - _infuriating._

Though she remained mute, her ruby-red eyes began to give away.

It's not like it happened for the very first time. There were several times he had successfully disappointed her – _although it's not really his fault_ \- _it's just that, just that_..

She couldn't help but feel ridiculous – eventually coming to believe that there was no point for her to fuss about her hair, her clothes, or the cosmetics she wore in the very first place.

Still. She wanted to be angry; wanted to shout at him for being so blind and insensitive; wanted to punch him on the face , release the poison in heart; she wanted tell him how much she felt for – _Oh, wait._

Like her heart, she chose to keep her mouth closed instead.

_It's not like he'll hear you, Sora._


End file.
